I'm not bothered about the whole marriage before children thing but I'd like to have been in a stable relationship for at least a year or two before trying. I'd like, realistically, 3 kids, starting at about 26 until 30/31ish - although if I could handle it, I'd have 5 or 6. In a perfect world I'd have a first baby at 26 (having travelled, gone to university, and started a good career), second at 28/29, and third at 30/31, and then if I wanted any more, I'd love to adopt or foster. I've always wanted a house full of kids, because growing up it's just been my little sister and I, and whilst I love her and we're really close, I kind of wish I'd had another couple of siblings.

For now, though, I'm pretty happy just playing with names and cooing over everyone else's little babyberries.

21, no kids. OH and I are the same age, have been dating nearly 2 years now and just finishing our education. We want to get a place of our own and work for a few years, and hopefully get married before having kids as well. Not planning on getting pregnant for at least another five years, and ideally would like two or three children.

Well, I am probably the oldest to respond to this thread. 37 and expecting my first!
Life never goes as planned.
It took me longer than expected to find my soulmate, marry, and even longer to conceive. Obviously I wanted to be married and have children before I turned 30. Now I hope to have them before 40!
Call me old-fashioned, but I do think that people should wait to marry before having children. Couples should enjoy their time together first before ttc too.

I'm older too, but happy to be in the position. I'm a bit ahead of you at 35 and expecting our second. I'm only six weeks along and have a two year old daughter. I went to law school, had some amazing career opportunities, ran for federal politics and paid off a lot of my major student loan before getting married and having kids. I am really delighted to be finally expecting again. We tried for almost a year this time but I was still nursing until this past September so that held us up.

I'm 19, and I honestly do not want kids until my late 20s, early 30s. I would like to have traveled a bit, volunteered overseas, got a reasonable job and a house before I get married and have kids. I think that is reasonable for me.

Edit: This might be influenced by the fact that my own parents were in their 30's when they had me. Mum: 33, Dad: 38. But they are awesome and they 'get' me despite being in their 50s now. Age really does not matter. But I love the fact that my dad did a lot of travelling before he had me (it has inspired me to do it). I love listening to him talk about visiting places like Morocco, St Petersburg, Petra etc (which is quite rare). So that is probably why I want to have gained a lot of life experience before I have children.

This does not mean I have to young to do all these great things, I will most probably do them with kids and after they have left too. I love travelling overseas!

Sunshine - this is what I did basically and I don't regret a thing. I lived oveseas, learned a new language and worked and studied in it, travelled extensively. It was awesome and made me who I am today. I was married at 31, had my first at 32 and am now expecting my second. We took our first on a five week tour around Europe when she was eight months old and I was on maternity leave. It was fantastic. We also have had three Au Pairs from different countries since I went back to work and that has been great, too. It brings a bit of the culture to you! Your plan is a great one, in my opinion!

There have been a couple of responses to this thread saying that it's great being a young parent because you can travel and enjoy your retirement later when your children are grown up (and you're still relatively young). Personally, I don't really agree. I'm not saying that people who have children young are making a mistake. But, given the choice, I'd certainly wait until I was in my late twenties AT LEAST before getting married or having children (I got married last year at 28 and could've easily waited!). I'm lucky enough to have had the opportunity to travel when I was single and in my early 20s - and I had a ball! I can't imagine enjoying myself as much if my first trip overseas was as a married fifty-something. Of course, I'm not saying that people in their 50s can't have fun! What I'm trying to say is that you learn a lot about yourself and the world when you're young and travelling and I think people who put off travelling to get married and have children young miss out on those experiences, even if they travel later in life. I don't mean to offend anybody - I understand that everyone's different and has different ideas about how they want their life to pan out - this is just my opinion.